Theorist and Researcher

Elizabeth DePoy has an international reputation for her work in methods of inquiry, diversity and access as a human right, with special attention to rural and disabled Jewish populations. She is an expert in the lives of rural Jewish women and girls, and in disabled Jewish populations and is sought worldwide for training, consultation and speaking in her areas of knowledge. DePoy graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 1972, her masters in 1976, and her PhD in 1983. She has a long and distinguished career in academia and in 2000 co-founded the Evaluation Practice Group (www.evalpractice.org) a non-profit company that focuses on the development, funding and evaluation of projects to advance human rights and equality of opportunity to community resources.

Born and raised in Manhattan, DePoy relocated to rural Maine in 1989. She taught at Hebrew University in 1994. Currently, DePoy is a professor at the University of Maine and the Vice President of Evaluation Practice Group in the US. In Israel, DePoy is a Senior Research Fellow at Ono Academic College in Kiryat Ono, Israel and a collaborator on disability and access research with professors at Bar Ilan University. She has co-authored and published 9 books and over 75 articles and has delivered lectures and workshops locally, nationally and globally.

In addition to her teaching, lecturing, and writing, DePoy currently is involved in two major projects:1. Working with Jewish girls and young women to create and disseminate a non-fiction documentary film depicting the lives of rural Jewish women and illustrating how they maintain their Jewish identify and legacy in areas with few or no Jewish resources. 2. Developing access solutions that will allow disabled populations in Israel and the United States to participate in the Internet and in outdoor sports and recreation.Among her many awards, in the summer of 2008, DePoy received a Faculty Fellowship for the Summer Institute in Israel, sponsored by JNF, Mediawatch and the Society for Peace in the Middle East.

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